Off With Her Head!
by ricosuave111
Summary: My heart pounded, The sound of my once loving father reading my crimes off to the courtyard filled with the roar of screaming people. I was pushed under the guillotine, The axe master began to wind up the wide blade. I raised my head, blonde hair falling around my face, my eyes meeting his, the assassin in monks clothing shoving his way through the crowd.FORBIDDEN FAX!
1. Chapter 1

Hey! so I'm sorry the description for this was less than adequate, but the full, unbutchered one is still on here if you happen to be interested. Please leave me a review if you want me to continue this, because I hardly update for my other story Caraphernelia (Check it out of you haven't already! its pretty sick.) and don't want to have to write for a story that no one is going to read.

Intro:

The guard pushed me up the rough wood stairs, splinters getting caught in the bottoms of my feet. He shoved me forward again, my father watching me with cold angry eyes at his throne, directly behind the carved guillotine. The Axe Master hulked up the stairs, pushing my head down onto the block, my father reading off my crimes to the people, their cheering thundering, the wide blade of the Guillotine slowly being cranked up. I lifted my eyes, coming into contact with the man who got me into this mess. FORBIDDEN FAX!

Chapter 1:

I sighed and picked at the beads sewn into the hem of my dress, before a teaching rod came down onto the top of my desk, making me jump.

"Maximum! daydreaming again? Where do you get the audacity?!" My tutor, Anne, screamed for the third time today. I simply smirked up at her, answering truthfully,

"Definitely not from my father." I responded coolly with a little smirk. She closed her eyes for a second, letting out a deep breath through her nose, before her dull blue eyes popped back open and she turned away from me, speaking loudly again about the proper way to lace a corset. I groaned internally, leaning forwards on my elbows, feigning attention, But my mind wandered to how many ways I could strangle that stupid woman with her own corset without getting in trouble. Again.

"Miss! Maximum Isn't paying attention again and her posture is atrocious!" I snapped back up in my chair, Anne whirling to look at me again, her face red with fury. My head snapped around, looking wide eyed at the snob sitting behind me, Lisa. With Fire Engine red hair and snakelike green eyes, She was easily my tutors favorite. And I had the "Fortune" of having her as my handmaid. The person who puts my hair up (stabbing my neck with the pins, "Accidentally") and shares my lessons with me. the only good thing about her is she has to do what I tell her, let me tell you, she HATED chasing me through the shallow, murky ponds out behind the castle gardens.

"Max! Hallway!" Anne screeched, shoving me out of the parlor and into the hallway. She gave me one last hard shove, sending me stumbling into the hall, my footsteps echoing in the empty hall. It was hardly past noon and I was already kicked out of class? I sighed and leaned against the wall, banging my heel against the wall.

if you ever thought being a princess would be great, you can guess again. It sucks. Don't get me wrong, I love the food and the horses and meeting all the people, but all the books on head stuff and straight line walking was never really my thing. I pushed away from the wall, walking quickly down the hallway. Screw Anne, I didn't want to stand in the hallway, I wanted to explore! I picked up the front of my long, dark blue skirts and ran down the hallway, down the stairs, into the ballroom, past the armory and out the front doors of the castle, into the warm sunlight and bustling sounds of the city.

"Hello, Aelid." (Aelid Is the name of the city, if that confused you) I mumbled to myself, and began to skip down the white marble steps. Once I hit the bottom, I looked around, wondering what I should do on my "break."

Remembering the monks would be praying all around the city at one, I set off in the direction if the cold cross suspended in the sky, right below it the grayish church bells, still swinging from when they had wrung at noon. I started towards the cathedral, A few people casting glances at me, probably because I never really got out of that damned castle very often.

I walked quickly away from the castle, stopping behind a cart full of raw meat, as the church bells chimed again, and the wooden doors slowly creaked open, the monks slowly making their way out of the cathedral, their heads bowed in their white robes, walking slowly and carefully, hands hidden under their wide, white sleeves. I saw a flash of brown moving fast among the sea of white and red. Startled, I began to walk towards the flash.

"Maximum!" I heard Annes angry voice ring out among the pleasant chatter of the people. I turned, seeing Anne and Lisa walking quickly towards me, both burning with anger. I set my jaw and turned, shoving my way between the people, while Anne called to me, the people closing behind me like water. I turned, dodging quickly through the people as fast as I could.

Suddenly Lisa appeared in front of me, grabbing onto my biceps hard. Lissa was shorted than me, and thicker, but I was easily tougher and stronger than her. I put my heel behind her and pushed her over my leg, her falling to the ground with a thud, releasing my arms, knocking down another woman in the process. The woman screamed and the women around her began to scold Lisa harshly. i took the moment to my advantage and bolted down a narrow alleyway. I was almost to the end when Ly arm was grabbed and I was yanked into the narrow branch of the alley, a hand over my mouth, squeezing so hard I couldn't even make a noise. I struggled against the hand, but the person pulled me closer to their chest, their other hand yanking my hand away from the one covering my mouth. I hyperventilated, trying to bite the hand.

Suddenly Annes angry voice echoed down the alley.

"And you let her get away? Her father will punish me for sure! That useless slag." Anne cursed. I smiled against the hand, suddenly going still. I'd much rather be kidnapped by whoever then go home to Anne. Suddenly she flashed by the narrow opening in the alley, Lissa in tow.

When their voices had faded, my captor released me when I started struggling. I whirled to look at him, still sitting on the stone ground, but was met with black eyes set in olive toned skin, fringed by dark hair and thick eyelashes, high cheekbones and most of his black hair covered by a monk's hood, but with the symbol the bottom of a heart and the sea on the bottom of the half heart. My breath caught in my throat.

An assassin.


	2. retribution

Okay, so sorry this is so short. Im horrible at starting story's but It will start getting interesting in a bit. Again, sorry for my B.S. Start.

Chapter 2: Retribution

"Who are you?" I asked, my voice sounding soft and scared. The assassin just smirked at me, his eyes flashing with something indistinguishable. I scowled at him, he had just pulled me into an alley, and he was an assassin!

"I asked who you were!" I shouted, but his smirk went from mocking to panic. He quickly shushed me, putting his hand back over my mouth. He shushed me again slowly as he peeled his hand away from my mouth.

"Are you going to answer my question?" I asked again angrily, and he just smirked again.

"No." My mouth dropped open, What on earth did he mean with no? Wait, This was an assassin I was asking for his name? Get to the point Maximum...

"Tell me!" I hissed, but he just stood up from where he was crouched on the ground and began to walk away. I scrambled up from the ground, dusting off my skirt as I rushed after him. I hustled to keep up with him as he walked deeper into the back skirts of the city. I came up behind him, my head only coming up to about his shoulder.

"Hey! We're are you going?" I asked, and he looked over his shoulder and half smiled at me.

"You're not going anywhere, your highness." I gaped at him again.

"How do you know who I am?" I asked, and he laughed a little bit, not even stopping or looking at me.

"Are you serious?" he asked, and I felt my face grow red. Of course he knew me, I was one of the most known people in the kingdom. I felt my face grow hot, but I continued to follow him.

"Why did you pull me out of the alley?" I asked, and he stopped dead in his tracks. Thinking that he had missed me, I repeated.

"Why did you pull me out of the alley?" He lowered his head a little, turning his head to I could see the side of his face, eyes half lidded, I could see the straight bridge of his nose, hair flopping just above his dark brown eyes. I thought they were black before, but the noon light wafting between the houses showed the brown coloring and black flecks.

"That loud bitch was chasing you wasn't she?" He asked, turning fully, Giving me the full view of his face. I was startled at his name for Anne, but was caught again at the view of him, half of his tan face bathed with the orange light, one eye glowing caramel in the sun, the other still dark, the hood coming low over his eyes.

I shook my head, it would be dangerous to fall for someone like him. he raised his eyebrows at me, And I blushed.

"See anything you like, princess." He said, smirking at him again, his eyes narrowing. I frowned, my face darkening to a darker red.

"No, Just arrogance."

"Strange, most people don't like that m'lady." He said with a smug tone, My hands curling into fists.

"I never said that!" I hissed, but he just smiled lopsidedly at me.

"Shure you didn't." He mocked, I reached out to slap him across the face, but he grabbed my wrist hard, pulling me into him, his face inches above mine, the silver clasp of his belt dug into my stomach through my dress.

"I'm sure you didn't." He whispered, his face hovering over mine, but I couldn't find it inside myself to push him away.

"Who are you?" I whispered again, and he answered in a barely audible tone.

"I'm Fang." He said, before bolting down the alley and around the corner, leaving me stunned behind him.

* * *

I walked up the steps to the castle, Its walls looking foreign and cold. A guard recognised me and opened the heavy metal gates leading to the inner courtyard of the castle. My shoes clicked as I walked past the barracks and up the the main section of the castle, but not before I felt a hand of my shoulder, the person intentionally digging their long nails into my skin. I flinched as Anne dug her nails harder into my skin, hissing into my ear,  
"Where have you been, Maximum?" Her hot breath was uncomfortable on my ear. She took another breath as if to continue scolding me when i heard someone clear their breath behind her. Her lips curled away from her teeth in disgust, she turned to face whoever had interrupted her, dragging me with her by my shoulder, her grip on me with her nails tightening on my skin.  
I let out a strangled yelp, but her hand was suddenly gone from my shoulder. I raised my eyes, to see my father fuming in our direction.  
"Anne..." He started in his low, angry, dangerously calm voice.  
"Your highness! your girl never stays in her lesson room, goes and runs away in the city, leaving me and her poor mad to search for her in the forsaken place! how did someone as noble and courageous as you breed such a vile child!" She continued to condemn me to my father, while he slowly turned redder. I rubbed where her nails had dug into my white skin, leaving tiny, red crescent moons on my sharp collarbone.  
My father held one arm open to me, a small smile gracing his worn face, and I grinned and walked to him, hugging him around the chest. He wraps his arm around me and casts a menacing look at Anne, who glares daggers back at me.  
"You may pack your things, Miss Walker." Anne's jaw drops open, and for a moment I feel bad, before she runs turns on her heel and strides into the castle, head held high. My father let out a breath of releif.

"And how long has she been your tutor?" My father asked, withdrawing his arm from me. I started to answer him, but he busied himself with his cloak and walked past me into the castle, leaving me by myself outside. I wrapped my arms around myself, looking down the front of my skirt at the points of my shoes. I felt tears prick my eyes, but forced them not to fall. The lonely little princess, same old same old.


	3. Fang

Hello Again! So I know that this chapter is super short, but I wanted you to know Fangs point of view also instead of Max's, and it will also be sort of important later in the story. So...yeah. Thanks so much for reading and try to give me a review!

-Rico

Chapter 3:  
I bolted around the corner, pushing past a beggar woman who clung onto my loose sleeve, leaping up onto a crate, and pulled myself up onto the roof with ease. I scanned over the flat landscape of the flat rooftops for guards before running from rooftop to rooftop back to the sanctuary. I had completed my objective, and headed back with a feather, red with the blood of the target in the pocket on the inside of my tunic. I reached the sanctuary, dropping through the wooden mesh roof into the small first room of the sanctuary. The two rooms to the sanctuary used to be the back of a house, but the entrance was sealed off and disguised a long time ago, the only entrance to the two rooms being through the roof. Walking into the back room, the retired assassin who worked here motioned me over to him.

"Have the feather?" He asked shortly, avoiding eye contact with me. I slid the white feather stained with white to him, and he took it, hastily wrapping it in white paper and giving it to a hawk, who clasped it in its clawed foot, allowing the man to tie the string around its leg. I watched as the small hawk flew out the doorway and out of the sanctuary, the note still clasped in its clawed foot.

"Anything else?" I asked gruffly, and he looked at me quickly in the eyes before turning and busying himself with something else behind the counter.

"Nothing." He said, not even glancing up at me. I guess I was used to this kind of behavior, when I was initiated as a novice assassin in training when I was fourteen, the few people in the guilds told me the emotion slowly drained out of my eyes as my training progressed. But it was what I wanted, I wanted to be a hero to someone.  
With that I turned, leaping up out of the sanctuary from a fountain that was built in the wall, entering the twilight of Damascus.  
I took off across the rooftops, leaping over flat topped buildings and across planks until I reached one of the higher points of the city, climbing up windows and stone pegs in the curved wall. At the top, crouched on a perch extending from the tower, the orange sun hiding behind the white castle. I wondered if that princess, Maximum, would remember me after I pulled her into the alley.

I was leaving the church whatever to avoid the guards that had chased me there the day before after I killed the doctor in the courtyard, and in the morning when I left, a guard recognized me from the sea of monks and I had to take refuge in the dark alleyways. Maximum had just happened to run by, and I guess it wasn't so hard to just help her. But, jeez it was so much worse. Holding her cold little body against my chest, her smell, she smelled like jasmine and her wrists were white and scar-less. She was so much prettier up close than I thought she would be.

I shook my head to loosen the thoughts of her, the last thing I needed was love. I was an assassin for crying out loud, and she was a princess, living in a castle with everything she could possibly want, while I was hiding with my hands covered in blood. Who was I to want someone like her.  
I leaped off the top of the perch, turning once over as I landed in soft hay, concealed from the guards. I lay still, letting my heart beat return to normal, I could have just stayed and slept here, in the sweet smelling hay, for the night. but I had better get back to the master. I bet I was going to get my last weapon tomorrow, for tomorrow was probably the day I would get back to Florence for the last of my initiation. I pulled myself up and out of the hay, startling a woman who jumped away from me with a glare.

I turned my head down to watch my feet as I slowly walked through Damascus. I walked past beggars, merchants closing up their stalls for the night, guards heading into the barracks for the night and a few templars heading out to take their places. With their suspicious eyes on me, I left the city through a small, crowded tunnel that led into the outside world. As soon as I left the city, the bustling sounds and putrid smells faded away, slowly returning to the clean smells of the outside world. I spotted a grey horse standing aways away, No one standing near it. I jogged towards it, hoping that the ever present sight of the guards wouldn't find me running threatening. I swung up on the horse, just before one of the guards ran out from the tunnel, pointing a sword at me.

"Murderer!" All the heads of the templars turned towards me, and they rushed towards me, and I dug my heels into the horses side, who swerved and galloped away towards the path leading to Florence. I smiled slightly under my hood, knowing they wouldn't be able to catch me, and leaned forward, urging the horse faster, its ears pricked as we set off. The image of the princesses huge chocolate brown eyes never leaving my head.


	4. Marraige

Marriage?

Chapter 4: max P.O.V.

Is stood at the window of my bedroom, my cold arms crossed over my chest, a fistful of my loose nightgown in both hands. I didn't know what I was looking for over the flat rooftops below me, but as the sun began to sink, and I heard a maid call to me that she was locking my door, but my eyes never left the window.

I watched as a white cloaked blob seemed to just appear through one of the roofs, my hand flew away from my nightgown to clutch the edge of my window, leaning forward. The figure darted agility over the rooftops, leaping from one to another without any effort. I watched as the figure leaped from a building, disappearing from sight. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding in, and pull my shaking hands away from the window, my knuckles white from clinging to it so hard. Could it be that the figure I saw was Fang from this mourning? How many people could leap from building to building like that, other than a trained assassin? Not many, as far as I was aware. I continued to watch the sleeping city below me, searching for a flash of white, but saw none.

It became dark, and I sighed, the chances of me seeing anyone in this dark was low, and I turned away from the window, climbing into my bed, the heavy red comforter offering me no warmth, and I shivered under its weight. I found my mind wandering back to the warmth of the assassin who saved me in the city today gave off, how it seemed to radiate off him.

No, what the hell was I thinking?

"Get him out of your head Max!" I whispered to myself quietly under the sheets. And squeezed my eyes shut, trying so push the image of his black eyes out of my head. Those black eyes, cold, like he was missing something. Not like he was mental though.

I curled into a fetal position, shaking my head hard and yanking the blankets over my head. Who was I to adore him like I was starting to? He was free, had the whole world, could go anywhere he wanted, see anyone he wanted. He could have any girl, who on earth would he chose the frail, pathetic princess who wasn't even allowed to leave her castle. I was confined, he was as free as a falcon. I rolled over under the covers, poking my head out from under the dark red blankets, shivering from cold, falling asleep with black eyes and a dark face burned into the back of my eyelids.

* * *

I pulled on my shoes, fumbling with the left shoe as I rushed towards the door, my braid falling out, my skirt crooked again, and I was late for breakfast.

"Stupid Lissa." I grumbled as I rushed down the stairs, stupid maid never woke me up on time, and I knew it was intentional, I thought as I straightened my skirt and smoothed my hair.  
I burst into the dining hall, and was greeted with more than the usual faces that sit at the table in the mourning. I plopped down at my spot at my fathers left, feeling a little shocked when he acknowledged me with a smile. I froze and smiled carefully back. My mother looked across the table at me distastefully, before turning to talk with the guests again. I ignored their chatter, and scooped potatoes onto my plate, eating without tasting the food.  
Everything about my mother was sharp, her dark brown hair drawn up into a tall bun, brown narrow eyes, harsh features and an equally sharp tongue made her a force to be reckoned with, and to make it worse, she was never fond of me. More like despised me really, but I had grown used to it.

"Isn't that right Maximum?" My mothers loud voice made me jump in my seat.

"What?" I managed, and she huffed and looked annoyed.

"I said that you are not usually such a late sleeper, and like to engage in conversation." She said, shooting me a look that said, 'don't you even think of saying no.'  
I nodded and sent a fake smile to the guests, a pretty blonde woman with several loose braids winding around her head like a crown, a sullen looking man with brown hair and another much older man, who smiled back at me sweetly.  
I looked back at my food, being careful to remember my manners around my mother and take small bites.

"Maximum." My father addressed me, and I looked up at him.

"These are the Gunthers, governor of Florence." My father told me, motioning towards the mousy brown man across from the old man, who nodded at me. I offered up a forced smile, where were they going with this, usually when guests were coming, I was told to stay away from the main passages of the castle, but why was I being introduced?

"They arrived last night, and we spoke of you coming of age." I felt my heart drop, I should have known that this would be coming, my birthday was in three months. My mother would try to marry me off as soon as possible, I wasn't surprised, but i'm not saying it didn't hurt.

"You will go with them to Florence, to meet their son and live with them for three months, and then you will be brought back home for the wedding." My father told me with a genuine smile, as if he thought this was the best idea he had ever come up with. My pressed my lips together into a straight line, before spitting out.

"What home?" I watched the shock register on all their faces and silence fell over the hall, before I shoved my chair behind me so hard that it fell over backwards and skidded a little ways across the floor, the sound almost deafening in the silent hall, as I walked away, my footsteps loud against the stone floor.  
Behind me, my mother screeched for me to call me back, but I ignored her, feeling a rebellious smile stretch over my face as I made my way up to my bedroom. I slammed the door to my room, and stood in the center of it, just looking around, my perfectly made bed, floor clean of my nightdress, the sun just streaming through the window. I felt tears prickle behind my eyes, and a lump rose in my throat, I let the tears fall as I went to my wardrobe, pulling out all my favorite dresses with tears running down my face, blurring my vision as I looked down at the pile of red and white dresses at my feet. I didn't want to go, I wanted to stay here and watch the falcons dart across the sky. I let the tears pool up in my eyes and run down my face.

I swiped them away, I wouldn't give my mother the satisfaction of seeing me cry. A small maid, who refused to made eye contact with me tiptoes into the room, carefully gathering up all the dresses I had thrown on the floor, and put them into a leather saddle bag, along with several new dresses that she had come into the room with. I didn't even bother to ask to see them, and went to the window, my face red as the tears slid down my face. I looked out again over Damascus, searching desperately for the white hooded figure racing gracefully over the rooftops. It had been weeks since I had seen Fang, no trace of him. I had snuck out too many times to carefully watch the monks, stayed up late watching the rooftops from my window.  
I sighed and pushed away from the window, turning to the maid, who had stopped putting things into the bag, and stood patiently behind me.

"When am I leaving?" I asked her softly, and she seemed to shake before me.

"When you are ready." She replied, crossing her small toes that peeped out from under her brown skirt, holding out a black dress with leather bodice and cuffs. I took it gently from her, and she bolted out of the room, and I pulled off my flimsy blue dress, letting it fall to my ankles. This dress was a more durable fabric than I was usually allowed to wear, the skirt with slits in the front and back so that I could comfortably ride a horse squarely, instead of side saddle, with leather leggings and heavy field boots. I silently turned to admire the dress in the mirror, While I laced up the wrist bracers. I turned, picking up the drawstring bag laying on my bed, the sound of my long blonde hair swiping on my new leather dress with every step I took.

A man stood at the bottom the stairs, offering a hand for my heavy bag, which I happily handed over to him. He led my through the castle, to where the people from this mourning were waiting, mounted on horses, ready for the journey before us. I was led to a leggy grey dapple with a soft eye and a bow and arrow tied to the back of the saddle, the only weapon my mother had allowed me to train with when I was a child. Once I hit the age of thirteen, all horse and weapon training were out the window.  
I shakily pulled myself up onto the horse, refusing any help from the stewards. I adjusted my feet in the stirrups as the group began to walk out of the stable and out into the city, the templars parting the sea of people, simply shoving them roughly out of the way. I rolled my eyes at them, how hard could it be to just ask them to move?  
I tapped the grey with my heels, and he started forward into a smooth trot. I reined him out of the crowded group of royals and along the narrow outside of the group, until I was right behind the line of templars, who I simply shoved through like they had done to the people. They yelled out in protest, but quickly shut their mouths when they saw me on the horse.

I slowed back to a walk in front of the group, the people parting like the sea and watching as the rarely seen princess rode a horse through one of the busiest parts of the city. I heard someone behind me yell for me to get back into my guarded place in the "Parade." But I simply ignored the call, not even looking backwards. When we were led into the tunnel leading out to the outside world, I looked around with wide eyes, trying to drink in every aspect of the dry landscape, for I had never actually been outside Damascus before. I heard once again the angry cry of a guard for me to get back in my spot, by the governors wife told him loudly to let me ride ahead.  
When she said that, I tapped my heels into the grey horse again, and he leaped forward into a cater, comfortably rolling over the dry, hard ground. A small smile spread over my sad face, the wind whipping through my loose blonde hair, the horses black mane brushing against my chest with its head held high, ears pricked forward enthusiastically.  
I wanted to drop the reins and hold my arms out to my sides, the wind screaming past me. When I was little, I learned to ride a pony. My instructor told my parents I was a talented horse-woman. My father was delighted, but my mother was mortified at the rough work of keeping a horse was what I wanted. From then on I had no further contact with horses. I gripped the reins tight, ignoring the flash of white behind me. I rode fast past the tall guard towers, ignoring the guards above me, who called orders to each other from on top of the tall wooden towers. I continued to ride forward, maybe bandits were escaping through the area. I slowed to a walk, looking around for anything that might be alarming.

Seeing nothing, I picked up a gallop again, and entered the path. It was dug into the ground, both sides of the path tall earth, with trees on top. I slowed to a canter in the path, my hair swishing across my back annoyingly. I spotted a blotch of white ahead of me in the path, making me jerk back on the reins stiffly, causing the horse below me to rise up on its back legs. I knotted my fingers in its mane, watching the figure in the path walk towards me. The white robe with red trimmings, long sword clanking against his crossbow and collection, an assassin. I felt my heartbeat spike in my chest, my fingers slowly undoing the bindings of the bow strapped to my saddle.  
There was a chance that the figure was Fang, but it was definitely possible for the figure to be an assassin sent to kill the useless princess. My heart hammered against my thin rib cage, but as the figure walked closer, I saw dark hair lining the white hood. For a second My heart stopped, could it be Fang? Was he sent to assassinate me, or was this just chance.

"Fang!" I called out to him, waving my hand at him and standing up in the stirrups, and his head bolted up, a small smirk playing on his lips, before it faded and he darted to the right, climbing up the side of the bank and disappearing in the trees. I let out a breath of disappointment, just before a band of templars burst through the trees on the other side, yelling with their swords drawn. One of them turned his helmeted head towards me, before barking if I saw a man in all white pass through here.  
I quickly shook my head, but dread passed through me, what had he done to make so many templars chase after him?

They simply shook their heads and mumbled amongst themselves as they walked back into the trees. I urged the horse below me to walk again, and he set forewords dancing excitedly. MY brain spin inside my skull as I let the horse pick up a cater again, just fast enough to jump over a few logs that had fallen in the middle of the path.  
I was in a daze until I reached the outside of florence, the huge, wooden gates blocking off the city from me. Two guards at the foot of the gate, eyed me, while I dismounted and took the bow and quiver of arrows from the saddle, slinging them over my back.

They pried open the heavy door, and let me in. I walked through the tall gate, taking in the new landscape. The grey stone castle on the highest part of the city, the group of four scholars slowly making their way up into the city, hawks circling up over the tall cliffs. i made my way through the crowds of people, shopkeepers calling out about the prices of their goods, a beggar woman leaped out from where she was leaning against a storefront, stopping me in my path, her dirty hands clenching my thin shoulders.  
I flinched away from her as she shouted at me for money.

"I don't have any." I told her softly, and tried to move past her. I had told her the truth, my parents had money, not me. She ran in front of me again, pushing me roughly back, causing me to stumble in surprise. She continued to scream at me about how she was so sick, and needed money, until a hand grabbed her shoulder and yanked her away from me.

"I believe she said she didn't have any money." The rough voice said, and the woman froze. I looked up at the white cloaked figure, his black eyes trained on me. The woman cried out and ran fast away from Fang. I folded my arms over my chest.

"Why are you following me?" I asked stubbornly, and he continued to watch me impassively.

"You looked like you could have used some help." He said, eyeing the people around us. I frowned, he was right. But I wasn't going to tell him that. I instead walked past him, brushing my hair out of my face.

"What are you doing here anyway?" I asked him when he jogged to catch up with me. He just smirked and didn't reply.

"So now you don't talk?" I asked him angrily, and he looked at me seriously.

"I'm being watched, and you're not exactly unknown." He said, and I nodded. He was using me as cover, for none of the guards would attack him when he was close to me.

"I'm going the same direction as you anyway, I'll walk you to the castle." I shot him a suspicious sideways glance.

"Not following me huh?" He rolled his eyes.

"Everyone knows you here to stay with the governors son until you get married to him." My eyes widened.

"Everyone knows that?" I whispered, and he smirked at me again.

"Everyone, they're having a parade from here until you get back to damascus for the wedding." I felt sick to my stomach, I didn't want a big wedding. I had hoped it would be something small, safe, and contained. mostly so I wouldn't have to pretend to be happy for the public eye. Fang smiled when he saw my expression.

"Glad to know I'm not the only one opposed to it." I sent him a confused look as we past the last stall selling fruit, and the huge castle loomed before us, the wire gates open and a templar standing on either side of the small entrance to the courtyard. I followed Fang past the templars, who sent him suspicious looks, their hands shooting to their long swords. I followed him into the courtyard where a boy with sandy blonde hair and sky blue eyes greeted me, in all his royal glory.

"Are you Maximum?" He asked me with a radient smile, I nodded, unsure about his enthusiasm. Out of the corner of my eye, Fang drifted away from me and the boy, who had pulled me into a hug. I froze up in his arms when Fang turned back to make eye contact with me before sliping past another gate and out of my sight. My stomach dropped in disappointment, but the boy pulled away, looking at me with concern on his face.

"That's Altair, he's a trained assassin with the guild. I want you to stay away from him." He comanded me, and I flinched slightly when he grasped my upper arm hard. I nodded and he let my arm drop and motioned for me to follow him. I sighed quietly and followed him in.  
This was going to be one hell of three months.

And why the hell did he call Fang Altair?


	5. Home

Chapter 5:

**117isme: Ahhhh! gamer girls unite! I started on the first one, the smosh song being my kick to start it, having just finished the dead space series. **

**Okay, So I think two people asked if I stopped working on this story, and I did actually forget about if for a while. :p But I got too it, and actually didn't have too much trouble writing up a chapter. A few chapters actually. Soooo, heres the requested chapter. I know its not very interesting but it leads up into the next one. **

I looked back out over the west tower over the dry landscape, trying to imagine myself looking out over this same stretch of landscape for the rest of my life. No falcons, trees, flat rooftops and gardens with their bright red and yellow banners. I frowned and looked away from the disagreeable landscape. I didn't intend on being pleasant on my stay here, and shut myself in my room, taking my sweet time with putting away my few clothes.

It seemed that no matter what I did, my thoughts wandered back to Fang. Like what he was doing in Florence, why he probably lied to me about his name, and what I felt when we made eye contact. I felt the window, sitting on the pale blue bed, toying with the beading on the comforter.

I jumped when someone pounded on the door, the voice of the boy from the courtyard trying to get me to open the door. He told me his name was Dylan, and that he was my fiance, that of course that shut down any future conversation.

I cringed as he cursed and left, his boots stomping angrily down the hall like a ten year old who didn't get his way. I huffed and rolled onto my back, looking up at the high ceiling, wishing it was the lower one at home. I stayed as quiet as I could, hoping that if I just lied here for long enough I would just shrivel up and die.

Fang P.O.V.

I moved away quietly as Dylan pulled Maximum into his arms, who visibly stiffened and didn't return the hug. He glared at me over her blonde head and I sent him a half smile, my eyes concealed under my hood. I moved away from them towards the gate to the top of the castle. It was coincidence that Max would be married to the future governor of Florence, the place where the heart of the brotherhood was located. I climbed up the steep stairs to find the master, pushing past women with pots balanced on their heads and guards who stiffened at the sight of me.

Ignoring them, I walked into the haven, up to the library to where the master was looking out the huge windows behind his desk. Without even looking at me, his low voice boomed through the open space,

"Fang, I received your progress. Very good, I can say I was impressed." I struggle to hold down a smirk of satisfaction, and he reached under his huge wood desk, pulling out from under it my crossbow and my quiver of red-feathered bolts (like arrows just thicker and shorter). I watched the sun glint off the sun glint off its metal in the afternoon light from the tall windows, it was pushed carefully across the table to me, and I quickly swiped in up, buckling the quiver over my shoulders, and hanging the crossbow over the top of the quiver.

I quickly straightened, and the master turned to look away from me, looking out the tall windows with his hands clasped behind his back.

"I have no more missions for you. Take a few weeks, Fang." He said, turning to send me a warm smile. I stood stock still, not used to receiving any affection, but he walked slowly around the table to place a hand on my shoulder.

"You may stay up in the masters loft if you wish, you have reached the highest status in your training, there is nothing else I can teach you." I just watched him, not quite sure what to make of his words. He dismissed me and I slowly walked out of his library, wondering to myself what to do with myself now. The brotherhood took me in when I was two, having lost my parents. Until I was six I lived and admired the assassins who came and went around me, seeing the master more as a parent as the memory of my true parents faded from memory.

I climbed up the ladder behind a bookshelf to the lofts, only three doors on the narrow, hidden hallway. I went town to the door at the end of the hall, cracking the door open a crack to see if anyone else had taken this room. It was empty aside from a light wood wardrobe to the left of the room beside a small glass window and a bed with sheets stood in the middle of the room, a small fireplace with an old, unused cooking pot suspended over it and several embroidered cushions scattered around it sat near the small fireplace. I walked slowly into the room, taking in the musky smell and the soft light that streamed in through the windows.

I didn't have a place that was labeled as home for me since I was two, and the warm feeling of someplace solid and tangible to call home was a new experience for me. I looked around the room and took off my long, white tunic after removing all my weapons and setting them in an empty corner to my right, I hung my tunic on a corner of the wardrobe, leaving me with only my loose brown pants and boots on.

I stretched as I looked outside over the small city of Florence, the sun sinking and orange over the flat-roofed buildings. I turned away from the window, and back into the cold room. I took a few logs from the floor next to the fireplace and stacked them inside the fireplace, and lighting them, the logs slowly catching on fire. I went back to the wardrobe, hunting through the bottom two doors for anything I could eat. Finding a new day old rolls and what I guessed was a quarter pound of horse meat tied in rough brown cloth. I smiled and tossed it in the air and caught it, unwrapping the fresh meat and throwing it in the small cooking pot that hung over the fire on four long, iron legs. I ate small pieces of the bread, breaking up pieces of the meat with a knife in the drawer, and just smelled it cook. I didn't eat very often because of how much I moved around Israel, and food was too hard to carry around with me.

"Tomorrow, will be a spa day!" I declared softly to myself, pumping both fists in the air as I flopped back on the floor cushions around the fire. I rolled around in the pile of big, silk cushions in the soft warmth of the fire as the sun sunk. Feeling sleepy, I used an old black tunic that was bundled in a wad inside of the dresser to pull the pot, now full of meat simmering in its own juices, and set it down in front of me. Impatiently, I raised a spoonfull of a few chunks of meat above the pot, wanting it to cool faster. I couldn't name the last time I had meat, more specifically meat that was mine and not stolen. I greedily ate the meat from the spoon, burning my tongue and having to tip my head backwards and blow out white steam.

The room around me slowly darkened as I ate the last of the cooked meat and watched the orange fire. When the pot was empty, I scooped up the last scrapings of the bowl with my last bite of bread. I pushed the iron bowl away from me with my foot and leaned back into the floor cushions, taking my hair out of its ponytail and letting it hang down my back. I pulled out some of the tangles, and pushed myself up from the cushions and got into the bed that was pushed neatly into a corner. All the bed really was, was a big bag full of all the hay it could hold, and covered in pillows that lined the walls and many layers of blankets.

Outside was dark, and the usual bustling of Florence had fallen quiet. I pulled the thick blankets up around my head so only my face had to be in the cold. I watched the fire as I blinked sleepily. I ducked my face out of the cold and under the soft blankets, falling asleep with thoughts of fresh tomatoes and...Maximum?


End file.
